Anti-plagiarism software approved

The English department requested the purchase of anti-plagiarism software last month to stop student plagiarism. The request was approved by Principal Phillip Gainous at a department meeting on Dec. 11.

The software is a product of TurnItIn.com, according to Media Center specialist Andrea Lamphier, who conducted research for both Gainous and the English department. Over 200 schools in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., are using TurnItIn.com's software, reports The Washington Post.

Media Center specialist Lisa Hack presented the software at the meeting, highlighting the software's features and a price quote by TurnItIn.com.

Business Manager Anne Alban estimated the cost at $2,300 annually outside of the current planned budget. If approved, Alban thinks vending machine money (see "Vending machines," page 1) would fund the software.

The software is a response to consistent and considerable amounts of student plagiarism, said English resource teacher Vickie Adamson. "Plagiarism has been a plight. Hopefully it will end here," she said.

Blair's plagiarism discipline policy mandates a call to the student's parents for the first offense and two days of in-school suspension for the second offense. Students who commit more than two offenses receive two to five days of out-of-school suspension. All students receive zeroes for the plagiarized assignments.

Teachers currently catch plagiarism through searches on Google and observations of incongruous styles of writing. The software can check student papers against private search databases such as Newsbank and against all papers submitted by other teachers to TurnItIn.com for evidence of plagiarism.

Lamphier said the software will allow teachers to stop wasting their planning time in assuring that students do not plagiarize. "How much more creative can you be in your lesson plan when you've spent eight hours researching plagiarism?" she asked.

Blair administrators have attempted to address plagiarism prior to the request for software, most notably in 2002 through the controversial Honor Code that established seven forms of plagiarism. But many teachers feel the honor code has not been effective in reducing plagiarism. "Students fool themselves into thinking [plagiarism] is a one-time deal and that it's OK," English teacher Sherelyn Ernst explained.

A May 2001 study of 4,500 high school students conducted by Donald McCabe, Rutgers University professor and academic integrity researcher, reports that 15 percent of students surveyed submitted papers from essay-writing web sites, while 52 percent plagiarized from the Internet.

Last year, roughly 20 Blair students were caught plagiarizing and numerous more were suspected of
plagiarism by the English department. Six English teachers reported cases of plagiarism during the week of Dec. 1, according to Adamson.

Adamson believes that plagiarism occurs more often with larger assignments. "Every time English teachers give a big paper, at least one kid plagiarizes and easily gets caught," she pointed out.